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Topographic Controls on the Distribution of Indigenous Rhododendrons in the Southern Slope of the Nanling Mountains, South China

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Topographic Controls on the Distribution of Indigenous Rhododendrons in the Southern Slope of the Nanling Mountains, South China Pak. J. Bot., 48(6): 2367-2374, 2016. TOPOGRAPHIC CONTROLS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF INDIGENOUS RHODODENDRONS IN THE SOUTHERN SLOPE OF THE NANLING MOUNTAINS, SOUTH CHINA LU ZHANG*, DING MA, XIAO-LI JING AND ZHI-YAO SU College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China *Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Rhododendrons, one of the traditional flowering plants in China and overseas, are famous for their beautiful flowers. However, only a few indigenous Rhododendron plants are used for landscaping in China. To determine the ecological role of distribution of Rhododendrons, and analyse whether and how major topographic factors influence the distribution and growth of indigenous Rhododendrons, a total of one hundred and two plots (10 m × 10 m, 100 m2) were laid out in the southern slope of the Nanling Mountains, South China (700–1900 m a.s.l.). We found that the topography affecting the Rhododendron species, i.e., Rhododendron simiarum, R. cavaleriei, R. bachii, R. championae, R. kwangtungense R. fortune, R. chunii., and there are different patterns among species. The richness and abundance of the seven indigenous Rhododendrons depaned on topographical gradient, greater higher elevation, intermediate slope steepness, convex slopes and shady aspect. By contrast, sunny habitats and habitat at low positions in the slope had fewer rhododendron plants. Non– parametric Kruskal–Wallis test and canonical correspondence analysis showed that altitude, position in the slope, slope shape and slope aspect had significant effects on the total abundance of Rhododendrons (p<0.05) compared with slope steepness. Indicator species analysis identified were indicative of altitude (four species), slope aspect (one species), position in the slope (one species), and slope shape (two species), respectively. The spatial heterogeneity of indigenous Rhododendron plants to topographic factors has significant implications for species conservation and potential for use in landscaping. Key words: Indigenous Rhododendrons, Indicator species, Topographic, Landscaping. Introduction 2007). Using invasive shrub rhododendron as a case study, Harris et al., (2011) integrated information on both the Determination of the environmental gradients that demographics and spatial dynamics within an individual– influence species richness, composition and biomass of based, spatially–explicit model to investigate the invasion plant communities is one of the most important issues in potential of shrub Rhododendrons in different habitats. ecology (Körner, 2007). Topography is one of the most Moreover, Rhododendron toxins was degraded during important factors affecting the tree growth performance composting (Hough et al., 2010). Rhododendrons are (Sattler et al., 2014) and distribution of trees in increasingly recognized as a keystone element in the mountainous forests (Enoki, 2003), which also has been Himalayan region, which provides the ecological stability, proven to be a strong regional predictor of above ground associated niche and community continuum (Singh et al., biomass accumulation in tropical forests (Alves et al., 2009). Biodiversity conservation was recognised as a 2010). The availability of accurate topographic information globally serious subject at the United Nations Conference at different spatial scales is a limiting factor for relating to on Environment and Development Earth Summit in June forest productivity (Laamrani et al., 2014), and as a driver 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Hsu et al., 2013). of cryptic speciation (Britton et al., 2014). Biodiversity has become a major concern in landscape Ericaceae are widely distributed in temperate and planning in the recent years (Morimoto & Yoshida, 2005). subarctic regions, also at high elevations in tropical regions. Hybrid Rhododendron plants, such as Rhododendron There were 22 genera and 826 species (524 endemic) have pulchrum, Rhododendron pulchrum var. phoeniceum, and been found in China (Fang, 2005). The genus Rhododendron simsii, are widely applied in parks, Rhododendron is the largest genus of Ericaceae that are residential areas and street–side green spaces in China, with widely spread in Asia, Europe, and North America. Sino- versatile application patterns presenting excellent landscape Himalaya Region is the largest centre of distribution for effects. However, indigenous Rhododendron plants are modern Rhododendron (Min & Fang, 1979). George seldom applied in landscaping in China. Forrest collected large numbers of living and herbarium The spatial distribution of high–elevation tropical specimens of hitherto unknown species in Yunnan, China, forest patches is controlled by landscape–scale topographic to introduce to the western world (Geng, 2010). The characters (Coblentz & Keating, 2008). Topography can genetic relationships among Rhododendron species were significantly alter microclimates and resource availability partially related to their taxonomic position, geographic (Simonson et al., 2014). Moreover, community–scale distribution and morphological classification (Zhao et al., topographic factors, which also have great impact on 2015). Tree Rhododendron adapts to a wide range of species composition and diversity patterns of forest habitats with different environmental conditions (Ranjitkar communities (Palmer & Dixon, 1990), significantly et al., 2013). However, Rhododendron plants, are also influence the distribution of understory species in the serious invasive alien plants, can inhibit forest regeneration Nanling Mountains, with the magnitude of influence in the in several systems worldwide (Wurzburger & Hendrick, following order: elevation > slope aspect > slope steepness 2368 LU ZHANG ET AL., (Ou et al., 2009). The distribution of species play a key divided into eight groups from the starting point of due ecological role in forest communities. Understanding the north, namely, north aspect (338°–22°), northeast aspect relationship between topographic factors and species (23°–67°), east aspect (68°–112°), southeast aspect (113°– patterns is important for forest conservation and sustainable 157°), south aspect (158°–202°), southwest aspect (203°– management. 247°), northwest aspect (248°–292°) and west aspect In this study, we analyzed the ecological relationships (293°–337°) in a clockwise direction (Olivero & Hix, between the distribution of Rhododendron plants and five 1998). As shown in Table 1, slope aspect was divided into topographic factors in the southern slope of the Nanling sunny slope, semi–sunny slope, semi–shady slope and Mountains. The objectives of this study were to: 1) to shady slope. The sunny slopes are south aspect, south reveal whether the topography affect the richness and west aspect and south east aspect, semi-sunny slopes are abundance of Rhododendron species; 2) to ascertain the east aspect and west aspect, semi-shady are northwest major topographic factors influence the distribution of aspect and northeast aspect, shady slopes are north aspect, indigenous Rhododendron; and 3) to determine whether respectively. the abundance of each species of Rhododendron vary in topographical gradient or not?. Materials and Methods Study area: The Nanling mountain (24º37′–24º57′N, 112º30′–113º04′E) range is located in southern China, straddling from west to east across the borders of Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces for more than 1000 km. It is a natural dividing line in southern China that separates the Yangtze River from the Zhujiang River. The Nanling National Nature Reserve, the largest Nature Reserve in Guangdong province (58400 ha), is located in the southern slope of the Nanling Mountains, with rugged topography and altitude ranging from 300 m to 1902 m at the summit of Shikengkong in Ruyang. On the average, annual temperature is 17.7 ℃, annual relative humidity is 84%, and annual precipitation is 1705 mm mainly occurring between March and August. The Nanling Mountains are the refugium of ancient tropical flora and the origin and key belts of temperate and subtropical plants in East Asia. A huge reservoir of biodiversity exists in the Nanling Mountains, with a record of 3760 vascular plant species (including subspecies levels), belonging to 268 families and 1306 genera (Xing, 2012). Fig. 1. Nanling National Nature Reserve. The light grey shaded rectangle on the inset indicates the location of the study area, Sampling design and plant census: Community and the black shaded rectangle indicates the location of transects. monitoring plots were set along the elevation gradient based on the relative distribution of the indigenous Statistical data analysis: Two datasets were constructed Rhododendron plants in the southern slope of the Nanling based on data collected from the 102 plots. The first dataset Mountains. We studied the Rhododendron community in consisted of Rhododendron plants. The second dataset 102 plots (10 m × 10 m, 100 m2) which were set along comprised a quantitative environmental data matrix, thirteen 120 m transects (700–1900 m a.s.l.) (Fig. 1). The including five topographical factors, (i.e. altitude, slope total inventoried area was 1.02 ha. The plots were steepness, slope aspect, position in the slope and slope 2 distributed over a 120 × 1200 m area (≈14.4 ha). We shape). Non–parametric Kruskal–Wallis test were used to identified all indigenous Rhododendron species in each analyse the differences in Rhododendron plant distribution sample plot using the available literature
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